


Practical Application

by Spikedluv



Series: Trope Bingo Challenge [2]
Category: Eureka
Genre: Community: trope_bingo, Established Relationship, Handcuffs, Humor, M/M, Trope Bingo Round 6
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-28
Updated: 2016-02-28
Packaged: 2018-05-23 20:04:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,416
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6128545
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Spikedluv/pseuds/Spikedluv
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“But <i>why</i> do we need stronger cuffs?” Jack said.  He really wasn’t trying to be difficult, he just needed to understand.</p><p>“Because they’re cool!” Jo said.  “Also, you remember ‘Roid Rage Roy, don’t you?”</p><p>“We’re not calling him that,” Jack said.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Practical Application

**Author's Note:**

> Humor, established (if on the down low) relationship. 
> 
> Written for round 6 of Trope Bingo for the _handcuffs_ square. Also written for my Trope Bingo Challenge with Silentflux. (I will post a link to her story once she posts it.)
> 
> Written: February 28, 2016

Breathless from his sprint into Global Dynamics from the Jeep, Jack panted, “What’s the emergency?” when he found Allison waiting for him in the lobby.

“There’s no emergency, Carter,” Allison said dryly. “Just a deadline.”

“Deadline,” Jack said, filling with dread. “For what? I’m not due for another performance review, am I?” The last one had sucked like a big sucking thing.

Allison gave him a look. “No, Carter.”

“Oh, thank god,” Jack breathed. “Then what am I here for?” he asked as he fell into step with Allison.

“A demonstration.”

“Of what?” Jack said with trepidation. The only reason he could think of for his presence at a GD demonstration was if they thought something might go wrong. “I’m not going to have to shoot anyone, am I?”

Allison gave him another look. “That wouldn’t be my first choice, no.”

Which wasn’t as comforting as Jack might have hoped. Jack didn’t ask any more questions, but only because he didn’t want to carry on a conversation with the back of Allison’s head. She could move pretty quickly in heels, and, despite his long legs, Jack had to power walk to keep up with her.

In the elevator, Allison initiated a retinal scan and then instructed the elevator to take them to the bowels of Global Dynamics. When the doors opened, she led Jack down a brightly lit hallway that didn’t fool him into forgetting that he was fifty feet underground. Another retina scan and they were admitted to a lab where Fargo, Jo, and Nathan already waited, along with two scientists that Jack had yet to meet during his time in Eureka. Jack decided to name them Curly and Moe.

Jack ignored the skip in his chest at the sight of Nathan leaning casually against one of the tables, eyes glued to his tablet as if the fate of the world depended on whatever he was doing. The hell of it was, it probably did.

“Glad you could make it, Carter,” Jo said. She was grinning and practically vibrating in place.

Few things excited Jo, which made Jack wonder again what he’d been brought here to see. “Did Global Dynamics create a new type of gun?” he asked.

“Nope,” Jo said.

“Combat knife?”

“No,” Fargo said.

“Body armor?” Jack said, getting desperate.

“No,” Allison said impatiently.

Jack turned to Nathan. “Please tell me that you didn’t create a weapon of mass destruction.”

“We didn’t create a weapon of mass destruction,” Nathan parroted without glancing away from the tablet. He raised his head and his gaze met Jack’s. “This time.”

“If I’m not going to have to shoot anyone . . .”

“Wait, you thought you might have to shoot someone? I thought we agreed that I was on call for that,” Jo said.

“There was no agreement; you’d enjoy it too much,” Jack said dryly to Jo. “. . . and you haven’t created a new type of weapon,” he continued to Nathan, “then what are we doing here?”

“Handcuffs!” Jo said, the word bursting out of her.

“Handcuffs,” Jack repeated. He looked around the lab; everyone was staring at him expectantly. “What?”

“Yes, Carter,” Nathan said with a put upon sigh. “Handcuffs.”

“Finally finish your Sudoku game?” Jack said, indicating the tablet Nathan had set aside.

Nathan gave Jack a look that made his stomach flip.

“It was Jo’s idea,” Allison said.

“It was my idea,” Jo repeated proudly.

“I don’t understand,” Jack said. “We’ve already got regulation issue handcuffs that work perfectly well.”

“Not like these,” Nathan said.

“These are _so much better_!” Jo added.

Nathan and Allison exchanged a look, and then Allison said, “Fargo.”

Fargo handed a pair of handcuffs to Jack, who studied them carefully. The material didn’t look or feel any different to Jack, and other than it appearing there was no keyhole, the cuffs themselves looked the same. “Okay, I’ll bite. What’s so special about these handcuffs?” he said as Fargo gently took the cuffs out of his hands and gave them back to Curly.

“They’re stronger,” Jo said immediately. “Like, a hundred times stronger than regulation handcuffs.”

“More like ten,” Nathan corrected. “Dr. Troules.”

Dr. Troules, the unfamiliar scientist formerly known as Moe, pushed a pair of glasses up his nose and stepped forward. “Dr. Vasily . . .” He indicated the female scientist formerly known as Curly, who gingerly cradled the handcuffs. “. . . and I created a substance that is stronger than carbon or stainless steel. It’s still in the testing phase, and might not be available for government use, much less available to the public, for years, but Deputy Lupo suggested handcuffs as one of the practical application tests we performed on the material.”

“But _why_ do we need stronger cuffs?” Jack said. He really wasn’t trying to be difficult, he just needed to understand.

“Because they’re cool!” Jo said. “Also, you remember ‘Roid Rage Roy, don’t you?”

“We’re not calling him that,” Jack said. But yes, he remembered ‘Roid . . . Roy Granger.

“These handcuffs are also tamper proof,” Dr. Vasily said. “There’s no key, so they can’t be picked. They require an authorized thumb print to open. And the cuffs send an alert if someone tries to slip out of them.”

“Such as dislocating their thumb so they can pull their hand out,” Nathan said.

Jack tried to ignore the prickle of sweat on the back of his neck. He’d said he _could_ dislocate his thumb, not that he was _going_ to. “So you’ve basically created smart cuffs,” Jack said.

“Yes, Carter,” Jo said wryly. “That’s exactly what they are.”

“Only as smart as the person wielding them,” Nathan remarked.

“I heard that,” Jack said.

“I’d be disappointed if you hadn’t,” Nathan said.

Allison sighed. “Can we get on with the test, please?”

“I still don’t see the point in making stronger handcuffs,” Jack said as they watched the scientists set up the test. “‘Roid . . . Roy Granger,” Jack corrected, ignoring Jo’s knowing look, “was a special case. Would something like this really get that much use?”

“They might come in handy if we can perfect the super soldier serum,” Fargo said. The moment the words were out of his mouth, he appeared to realize that he’d said too much.

“Super soldier serum,” Jack repeated.

“Um,” Fargo said.

“As in Captain America.”

“Um . . .”

“From the comics.”

No one laughed or told Jack that Fargo had been joking. He turned to Nathan. “Please tell me that Captain America was a fictional character.”

“Of course Captain America was a fictional character,” Nathan said. Before Jack could bask in his relief, Nathan went on. “Steve Rogers, on the other hand, was not.”

Jack’s mouth fell open. He snapped it shut. “Please tell me that you’re not trying to create a super soldier serum.”

“Global Dynamics is overseen by the Department of Defense, Carter. What do you think?” Nathan said. “Just remember that you’ve signed a non-disclosure agreement.”

Before Jack could freak out even more over the notion of a super soldier serum, the scientists announced that they were ready. First they had everyone exert force on a machine that reminded Jack of something you’d see at a carnival so they had various levels of ‘normal’ human strength for comparison. Then they put the handcuffs through a series of strength and tampering tests on another machine.

When it came time to test them on a human, Jo raised her hand and bounced on her toes. “Me, me, oh please, let me do it!”

“Are they safe?” Jack asked Nathan.

“Drs. Troules and Vasily have both tested them personally,” Nathan assured Jack.

Jo grinned as Dr. Vasily snapped the cuffs around her wrists. She tugged on them to no avail, then tried to get out of them. The cuffs sent a signal to a machine that started beeping. The more Jo tried to find a weakness in the cuffs, the louder and more frantic the beeping became.

“It sounds like it’s going to explode,” Fargo said with a grin.

Everyone stared at him, including Jo. Jack turned to Nathan.

“They’re not going to blow up,” Nathan said, reaching out to slap the back of Fargo’s head.

“We could probably add a small explosive charge,” Dr. Troules said excitedly.

“A contained blast,” Dr. Vasily said in agreement.

“No charges!” Jack and Jo said simultaneously.

Drs. Troules and Vasily looked at Jack and Jo as if they were the strange ones here.

“No charges,” Allison said.

Both doctors looked to Nathan.

“No.”

They visibly deflated.

“While it sounds cool in theory . . .”

“In what world does that sound cool?” Jack hissed.

“. . . you’re as likely to blow up the good Sheriff and Deputy Lupo as the suspect.”

“Oh my god,” Jack said.

“Okay, you know what, I don’t want these on anymore,” Jo said. “Take them off. Please. Now.”

~*~*~*~

Jo was freaked out at the notion of losing a hand to a pair of finicky smart cuffs, and so, even though it had been her idea in the first place, Jack was the one to remain behind with Drs. Troules and Vasily to ask questions, make suggestions, and learn how to enter an authorized thumb print into the cuffs.

Jack was a little bit concerned at how quickly Jo exited the lab with a, “Someone’s gotta hold down the fort at the Sheriff’s Office,” and Fargo, after a glance at Nathan, on her tail.

“Play nice,” Allison warned Jack before she followed the other two out.

At that comment, Nathan hummed a sound that made Jack’s body tighten in response. He shot a glare in Nathan’s direction, but it was wasted because Nathan wasn’t even looking at him.

“Stop by my office when you’re done here, Carter,” Nathan said when he reached the door. “I’d like to hear your thoughts on the viability of the project,” Nathan’s mouth said. His eyes said something entirely different.

Nathan’s heated gaze sent a shiver down Jack’s spine. “Oh, I’d be happy to give you my thoughts on the ‘viability of the project’,” Jack said, but it was a poor effort since much of his blood had forsaken his brain for parts south.

Now Jack stood outside Nathan’s office. He squared his shoulders, then reached out and threw the door open without knocking. Before he could speak, Jack saw that Nathan was on a conference call. Jack deflated as the words he’d been about to speak died on his tongue. Nathan didn’t glance away from the computer screen, but his pinky tapped the desk top twice. Jack had already checked in with Jo and there was no reason he had to hurry back to the office, so he waited for Nathan to finish up with his call. Jack stood at the windows overlooking the Global Dynamics lobby and watched the people scurry about, trying to covertly watch Nathan out of the corner of his eye while he finished up the call.

Jack turned to face Nathan when he disconnected the call. He held up a hand to forestall whatever Nathan was preparing to say. Nathan leaned back in his chair and raised an eyebrow as Jack crossed the office to the door and stepped back out into the hallway so he could recreate the dramatic entrance Nathan’s conference call had ruined.

“Vibranium handcuffs, Nathan, really?” Jack said as he once again closed the door behind himself.

“They’re not vibranium, Carter,” Nathan said, the hint of his former derision softened by the warmth in his eyes and the curve at the corner of his lips.

Jack didn’t know how it was possible for Nathan to look at him as if he was both precious and desirable, but it made his tongue get all tied up. “Yes, well,” he said, stumbling over the words. “While I’m in favor of the stronger, tamper-proof cuffs in theory, I’m still a little bit concerned about how secure the thumb print information would be, and the ease of access in order to change it.”

“So what you’re saying is that they require more field testing before you’d be comfortable okaying them for use on the job,” Nathan said.

“Um, yes?” Jack said, frowning at Nathan’s reasonable tone.

“I was hoping you’d say that,” Nathan said.

Jack’s stomach dropped. He couldn’t tell if it was dread or anticipation. With Nathan it could be either, really. Nathan pushed a box that had been sitting on the corner of his desk closer to where Jack stood across from him. Jack looked at the box as if it might contain a bomb.

“Does it contain a bomb?”

Nathan’s smile wasn’t encouraging. “Open it,” he urged, his voice part command, part purr.

Jack automatically took a step forward and then caught himself and glared at Nathan, who merely looked back at him with an unflappable expression. Jack opened the box and all of his blood rushed south. Again. Inside the box was a pair of the experimental handcuffs, but this pair was padded.

When Jack found his tongue, he said, “What did Drs. Troules and Vasily say when you requested a pair of padded cuffs?”

“They wanted to keep their jobs, so they said, yes, sir, right away, sir.”

Jack rolled his eyes.

“If you’re free tonight, we can work on some of those safety concerns that have you worried,” Nathan said. His tone said that it didn’t matter one way or the other to him, but Jack knew differently.

Jack had to wet his mouth before he could speak. “I’m free,” he said.

“My place?” Nathan said.

“Yes,” Jack agreed, choking out the word as he imagined video of what Nathan had planned for Jack and the cuffs stored somewhere on S.A.R.A.H.’s servers where Fargo could access them. Not happening.

“Should I, um, pick up groceries?” Jack said.

“I’ve already put in a take-out order at Café Diem,” Nathan said.

Jack raised his eyebrows. “Pretty sure of yourself, weren’t you?”

Nathan’s silence spoke volumes.

“Yes, well, I should be getting back to work,” Jack said.

“I’ll see you later, Jack,” Nathan said.

“Yes, later,” Jack said. He bumped his knee into a chair and hit his shoulder against the door jam when he tried to walk through the doorway before the door was open far enough. He still got a little bit flustered whenever Nathan called him ‘Jack,’ and Nathan knew it.

When Jack glanced back, a smirk curled the corner of Nathan’s lips. A year ago that expression would’ve pissed him off. Now it made Jack’s insides go molten with anticipation.

The End


End file.
